The GTHLA is organized community hockey that is meant to be fun, safe and fair. All its members need to share this common goal and trust each other . The trust begins with our understanding that each individual member will be responsible for their own actions and every team will be responsible for the actions of their own players. It’s only with this responsibility that we can build trust and achieve our goal of fun safe fair community hockey.

Our goal, as the Fair Play Committee, is to not be required for any discipline matters and work with all our members to ensure this.

The Fair Play Committee works with teams and players to preserve the friendly nature of the GTHLA. The Fair Play Committee will arbitrate on behalf of the league to both encourage positive behaviour and address negative behaviour.

Everyone is in control of their actions and is required to think before they act. We must set an example by controlling our tempers and use the established lines of communication instead of resorting to violence. If anyone is not capable or unwilling to control him or her self then they do not belong in this league and should therefore seek out other avenues to participate in hockey.

The Fair Play Committee has 3 general meetings a season to help further develop it’s effectiveness within the league. All league members are encouraged to participate in the meetings and correspond with the committee outside of the meetings through their email, gthlafpc-at-hockeyaa.net in the interest of improvement. The Fair Play Committee also encourages all the members of the league who exemplify all our values through their behaviour and involvement in the league to consider joining the committee.

1) If a game ejection occurs the team reps and/or players may discuss this with the refs and convener (if he/she is around) immediately following the game in the interest of better understanding the call and reconciling the player's actions. Any important info from this quick talk can be forwarded to the fair play committee (gthlafpc-at-hockeyaa.net). Teams are responsible for reporting within 48 hours to the Fair Play Committee any issue that resulted in a game/gross/match misconduct with one of the players on the team.

2)

When a team is reporting an incident, their first responsibility is being accountable for their own player’s actions. If a player behaves digressively (which includes verbal and physical abuse) they must take responsibility for themselves and reconcile with all the parties they offended (including players, teams, officials and the league). This can be done through any channel of communication, however, confirmation must be sent to the FPC via email (gthlafpc-at-hockeyaa.net) to confirm that the communication took place. After the team and player(s) have reconciled with all the parties they offended, the team and FPC can decide on a mutually agreeable time for the player to return to participating in the league.

During this process, it is important for all parties to remember that despite whether a player and/or team feels they are victims of others’ digressive behaviour (including players and officials), all members must be accountable for their own digressive behaviour first. Reacting digressively to someone else’s digressive actions or perceived digressive actions does not absolve responsibility for one’s own actions. Discussion of others actions must be done separately.

We must always remember that our primary objectives is to have a fun, safe and fair community hockey environment and that can only be accomplished by everyone taking responsibility for their own behaviour and their team-mates’ behaviour. The quicker this reconciliation process happens the quicker all parties can return to enjoying their participation in the league and working on making it an even better community.

3) There are two types of suspensions: automatic suspensions according to the CHA rule book and additional suspensions handed down by the teams and league. It should be noted that any suspension and expulsion decisions made take into account objective opinions of witnesses (including the players involved) and the player’s history with the league.

4) The Fair Play Committee keeps records and statistics on all good and poor behavior that is provided to them.

Prince(ss) Charming Awards

Prior to the end of the GTHLA season, the GTHLA FPC may ask each team to nominate 1 player to receive the “Prince(ss) Charming” award for their team.

Reporting

Members are encouraged to send feedback on league Fair Play to gthlafeedback-at-hockeyaa.net. Feedback helps the league build a better operation and community.